Arithmetical bingo game apparatus



April 24, 1956 A. G. SANDERS 2,743,108

ARITHMETICAL BINGO GAME APPARATUS Filed Jan. 17, 1955 Z4 l INVENToR.

Anim" ,kmden United States Patent YO 'ZJ I y ARITHMETICL BlNGo AGAME'APPARATUS g rdis C. r"Sa:nilrs, limitiert, Application Jennery 417,-lsafsrii N. 182,14

'1 can. et iis-155) 'Ihis invention relates to a Igaine and it'isparti'cularly concerned with an arithmetical game. rThe main objectsof the invention are "to provide a gar'ne which will have educationalvalue in the science of arithmetic; 'tb provide such Va game which willembody' lan elen'ieirt f 'chance wherbyentertainient value is increased;to provide [such a game which maybe played by any desired niimb'er "fcompeting players subject only ,'t' the provision of suitable numbers ofplaying boards and associated equip'-` Ament 'for playing the game; toprovide 'a l'g'arri'e "of th'e f character indicated whichy will ybe'appealing to both young and old players; and in general, "it isthebject of the iiiventio'n to provide 'an improved 4gaine df the'character 'iiidicated. n v i i Other objects and advantages 'fjtheinvention .'vvillvbe understood by reference to the followi gspecification 'and 'accompanying 'drawing wnereinttreis 'described aanillustrated 'a selected embodiment bf the game.

In the drawing: y l

Fig.`1s an illustrationo a set o'fplayiiigfb'dards form# ing part of theequipment 'for playing the "and Fig. 2 is a perspective illustration ifp'it'in of la ser of number blocks forming another prrr er 'theedtnpm'ent for Yplaying the gal-rie."v t

The playingy nearer represented in vlignre i, are, in this'instance, fo'ur in 'number being yreps'pactive'ly designated 15, 16, 17 and 18,'and they are preferably identical't each other in orderthatuallplayeraeach being Ifurnished with one b'ad, will ct'irip'etewith ne ltli' under like conditions so Afar as the playingl boards areconcerned. However, for some purposes playing boards may differ vfromyeaclr'ltlrer. l e Y, The playing boardsA 'rep'resentedl Figure ,1ffre'japproximately of 's'qu'a'r'efo'rm 'arid they are suitably dividedinto squares or spaces as by printed lines represented at 19, whichextend vertically and horizontally of the board. In this example, theboards are divided into 36 spaces. This division of the playing boardresults in theformation of six horizontal rows of spaces, six verticalrows of spaces, and two diagonal rows of spaces which respectivelyextend between the opposite corners of the playing board.

One of the diagonal rows of spaces is designated by the arrow-headedline marked 1. The horizontal rows of spaces are designated byarrow-headed lines marked 2, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 3, reading from the top tobottom of the playing board. Similarly, the vertical rows of spaces aredesignated by arrow-headed lines marked 4,'7, 9, 13, 11 and 5, readingfrom left to right of the playing board.

Each space is provided with an arithmetical sign such as a plus oraddition sign 20, a minus or subtraction sign 21, a division sign 22, ora multiplication sign 23. The specific arrangement of these arithmeticalsigns or indicia is not critical and may be varied from thatillustrated, but it has been found that the illustrated arrangement isvery satisfactory.

For use in association with the playing boards, there is a set of numberblocks 24 (Fig. 2) which, for a game `:if the tive 'number blocks drawnfor the se p y 2,743,108 evt--aaien `sevens, eight eights', eightn'ines,v and eight special blog ks or jokers which are adapted to beused for any number at the option of the player who gains possessionl ofa special block. Figure 2 illustrates only a portion' o'f the describedset of blocks. l ,A e f y d The playing boards to y1,8 inclusive and thenu" ber blocks 24'may be made of a'nysuitable mater su ,as paper orberboard of afgrade selected inajccolifdanrce With the durability Whichit iS dild to build into the Parts.- The game is p'layedby supplyingeachplay'erwwith one of the playing boards 15;, 16, 17 o'r '13. Thesetiaf number blocks 24`are preferably arranged face on a table or in acontainer -such as a part of th which the game may be 'supplied to thepurch er A single 'game consists vof lthirteen plays ls uccessivelyfin'ade according to the numerical brder of the rows 1 to 13 inclusive.To start playing, each player is furnishe playing board and then dralv'sfrom the ystock pile Aof number blocks, six blocks which arethenturnedfaee up s o that the players'z maysee what numbers ythey, havedrawn.v The first play is to bernade on diagonal 1 and the playersarrange their numbers in lthe; sA s along said row y1 in 'such' a mannerthat when` the 4numbers contained in the row are added yto eachother,'multi plied or 'subtracted as` indicatedy by the indiciaZiiv21,22 and z3, are highest p'ossbie 'scare win 'be man for the row. Forexample, if the numbers 1 4'; QOL nd 7, .and a special number block orjoker aredrawnandarranged in the manner indicated :in dotted linefSl, Fu're l, the sco're for row Ifvvo'nld be cmputed as followr z 1+4-=-s; 56=3'o; 30:0'=30; 3o 7=21`0'; .andaduraing thatthe joker is played as anine, 2'10 9`'-l80, tiie latter being the total score for the row. I n vn For the next playron row number 2; eachplayer draws live number cardsand' arranges *these to tli'ebes advantage inV the their unoccupiedspaces in yrownumber 2 .1' number l 'previously playedlin one square in`the vpla n"g or a row 1, 'is cenare-d a part of row lz.-V rer ex' lte2, 5, 7; -joker andfS, and 'ifft'lieieV are placed von he oa inthemanner indie-rea in Figure k1,* the nere refr co1 Zvi/Ould be 142 'l;Lf-5:21; lll-7:11 played asa zer 11; 'and U+S; 19, 'the 'lar being tiretotal 'score for row 2'.

It will be seen that considerable judgment may be exercised in the useof the special number blocks or jokers. In the illustrated arrangementin column 2, the joker was used as a zero in order to avoid lowering thescore produced by the preceding numbers. When row 11 is played, the zeronumber applied to the joker in play 2 remains as the value of that blockand will not lower the score produced by the other numbers of the row.The playing of rows lll and 13 does not require the drawing andplacement of any number blocks, all spaces having been filled as anincident to the playing of preceding rows. Hence, the playing of saidrows 11 and 13 involves only the computation ot' the score on the basisof such previously placed number blocks. For the playing of thesuccessively numbered rows, number blocks are drawn from the pool orstock pile of numbers, only as many as are required to fill unoccupiedspaces in the row being played and it is preferred that all playerssimultaneously play like numbered rows although this is not essential.

yIn the blind picking of the number blocks from the stock pile, thereis, of course, an element of chance introduced into thegame and eachplayers set of numbers for each row will usually dif'ter from the set ofeach of the other players so that the scores made by the respectiveplayers may vary considerably for like rows. A further element of chanceoccurs as an incident to the use of the same number block in two rows.

Certain rules may be made to induce the players to arrange numbers in acertain order. rule may be that a bonus of say 1,000 points shall beawarded a player for playing three number` blocks with the same numberin sequence in a row and the joker may be made available to representsay one of such three numbers. The playing of like number blocks insequence to obtain the bonus score will usually be advantageous eventhough the arithmetical result in par ticular row is not necessarily thebest that could be obtained with the numbers available for placement inthe row. For example, if the three numbers which are placed in sequencein a row happen to be the number 1, no advantage would be gained byhaving such number l in a space marked with a multiplication sign 23whereas substantial advantage might have been gained by placing a highernumber in such a square. In this respect, there is an element ofjudgment as well as of chance introduced into the game. A larger bonussay 1,500 points may be awarded to a player who has used the same numberfour times or more in sequence in one of the rows, using not more thantwo jokers to represent the number in such sequence. Similarly, a bonusmay be awarded to the player who has played four jokers in sequence in arow regardless of what number they originally represented. The award ofbonuses may, if desired, be limited to a single bonus on any givennumber, or the award may allow two or more bonuses for the use of thesame number in crossing sequences in which a number is common to thecrossing sequences. For example, sequences in the diagonal row 1,vertical row 9 and horizontal row 8 might be based on a number such asthe number six which is represented in the space common to these threerows. The number of bonuses which may be secured in one game based ondifferent number sequences, may be unlimited. Other rules in thisrespect may, of course, be made.

Another rule which may be established is that if a sum cannot be dividedevenly by a number placed in a square or space bearing a division sign(rows 6, 8, 9 and 13), the answer to that part of the play shall beregarded as zero and remainder of that particular play figured from thatpoint. For example, if in play 9, the second square from the top has anumber 2 placed in it, which is not an even For example, one

divisor for the number 5, the computation for the first and secondsquares in play 9 would result in zero which multiplied by the 6appearing in the next lower square would still give a zero. Hence,substantial losses may be experienced where the divisor does not enterevenly into the dividend.

` A game may consist in the completion of all of the thirteen rows orplays indicated on the boards or of any selected number thereof and thescore may be the total of the scores of the thirteen plays or theselected portion thereof. For only two players, it is preferred thatonly one-half of the number blocks be used, onchalf of the number ofeach number being removed. For more than four players, additionalplaying boards and number blocks are provided to maintain approximatelythe indicated ratio of number blocks to playing boards.

In some instances, the arithmetical indicia 20, 21, 22 and 23 may beplaced on the number blocks instead of on the playing board squares andin some instances, indicia may be omitted from one or more spaces (orblocks) and the player given freedom to use the number in any selectedmanner. Other variations may also be made while retaining the principlesof the game as described.

I claim:

A game comprising a set of like playing boards and a set of numberblocks, the playing boards each having markings thereon defining aplurality of spaces each of which is adapted to receive one of theblocks of said set of number blocks, said spaces being contiguouslyarranged in intersecting horizontal and vertical rows and at least onediagonal row, markings on said boards to indicate a sequence of use ofsaid rows of spaces, said spaces being each provided adjacent a sidethereof with arithmetical indicia of computations to be made with thenumbers on the blocks placed in such spaces and aligned in the rowsthereof, said blocks and spaces being so proportioned relative to eachother that said number blocks may be placed in said spaces to one sideof thc indicia therein so as to maintain visibility of said indicia whenthe number blocks occupy the spaces, saidsct of number blocks comprisinga suicient number of blocks to occupy all of the spaces on said set ofplaying boards, said set of blocks embodying groups thereof respectivelyhaving dilerent numbers thereon, and another group having markingthereon distinguishing the same from the blocks of said plurality ofgroups and adapted to be used at the option of the players for anyselected number.

References Cited n the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 574,192Climenson Dec. 29, 1896 1,402,807 Tegtmeyer Jan. 10, 1922 1,655,380Parker Jan. 3, 1928

